Central England Co-operative is one of the largest independent retailers in the UK, with more than 400 trading outlets, a family of around 8,600 colleagues and more than 330,000 regular trading members.

The requirement

Numerous developments are taking place across Central England Co-operative as part of the Society’s overall vision to make sure it’s fit for the future and provides customers with the best possible service.

With so many changes taking place across so many different parts of the business, Central England Co-operative’s internal communications manager was keen to make sure they were being communicated to the right people at the right time.

She recognised that producing regular content was crucial to keeping colleagues up to speed on the latest developments and was keen to work with a writer who had change transformation communications experience.

The solution

During my public sector days, I was a senior member of Worcestershire County Council’s corporate communications team. I helped communicate the council’s change programme internally and externally to staff, councillors, members of the public, the media and other key stakeholders for several years.

My county council background meant that I had the change transformation communications experience Central England Co-operative’s internal communications manager was looking for.

I was initially taken on to write the Society’s internal newsletters, which are sent out to various colleagues from different areas of the business on a monthly, bi-monthly and ad-hoc basis.

And as my relationship with the client has developed, I’ve been asked to work on more-and-more projects with them.

The results

Central England Co-operative’s colleagues are being regularly updated on the latest changes and what they mean for them.

More importantly, Central England Co-operative’s internal communications manager has a dedicated ‘go-to’ person that she can depend on to provide her with the copy she needs for all sorts of projects, such as their:

• Staff newsletters.
• Quarterly staff magazine (I also get involved with interviewing colleagues, advising on the content, imagery and design and proofreading too).
• Email campaigns.
• Internal news stories.

We also work together on developing the Society’s overall internal communications strategy and regularly brainstorm new campaign ideas together.

Here’s what she has to say about working with me:

“I’m delighted with the work Sanina has produced for us. She has quickly got to grips with the business and our tone of voice and has written brilliant copy for our change programmes and news stories for our internal magazine. 

“What’s more, she is very personable, super keen, full of ideas, accommodating and turns around work very quickly. I have total confidence in Sanina. It’s great to have Sanina on board and I’m looking forward to continuing to work together to further enhance our internal communications.”

* The work example provides you with a flavour of some of the articles I produced for the Autumn/Winter 2017 edition of Central England Co-operative’s staff magazine, Your Co-operative.